BRADENTON – Florida State defensive tackle Ja’len Parks will take a medical disqualification after an ankle injury forced him to stop playing college football.

Coach Willie Taggart made the announcement on Tuesday morning before the Seminoles’ first practice at Bradenton IMG Academy. Parks will remain on scholarship, which won’t count toward FSU’s total of 85, and he can continue to work toward his degree.

“It’s unfortunate,” Taggart said. “He’s a great young man and I’m sure he’ll go on to do some great things in other areas.”

Parks missed all of the 2018 season due to injury after spending 2017 on the scout team. He was a high school teammate with Cory Durden at Newberry and the duo were in the same 2017 signing class at FSU.

His father, John, played at FSU from 1985-87 and was a teammate of FSU defensive line coach Odell Haggins.

Practice notes

Defensive end / outside linebacker Joshua Kaindoh (hamstring) was not seen during the open portion of Tuesday’s practice. “We’re just being precautionary,” Taggart said. “He’s still not 100 percent there. We don’t, again, want to further injure where he is right now.”

Defensive tackle Marvin Wilson was not seen during the open portion of practice.

FSU and IMG Academy have a two-year deal to hold practices in Bradenton, with 2019 being the second year. Taggart said he hadn’t thought about returning to IMG in 2020. “We’ll think about it later on,” Taggart said. “But we like it. Our guys like it and if it continues to help us, we’ll do it.”

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